


One Little Trooper

by Topographical_Map_Of_Utah



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, M/M, i can't believe that's a tag, rebel finn, stormpilotweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 14:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9766430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Topographical_Map_Of_Utah/pseuds/Topographical_Map_Of_Utah
Summary: Finn teaches Poe something, and apparently that something is childcare.Day 3 of StormpilotWeek 2017: Finn teaches Poe something





	

_"Please_ go to sleep." Poe pleaded, feeling his left eye starting to twitch again. The baby in his arms only wailed louder and Poe sighed, flopping back onto the mattress and staring up at the ceiling in resignation. "But I said please..."

Another unit had managed to nab the little tyke during a raid on a First Order base, and Poe had been sure he was up for the job of watching her. It would be great, he figured. He was on light duties anyways because of a back injury, the kitchen had whipped up some baby formula, and the quartermaster had even managed to dig up some diapers and a onesie, much more comfortable than the scratchy little shirt the Order issued out. Cheap bastards.

At the sound of concerned beeping Poe managed to turn his head and smile at the droid who was nudging at the side of his bunk. "That's okay, buddy. You go ahead and power down. I'll be fine. Thanks for your help." BB-8 beeped their thanks and rolled over to the corner in relief. To be fair, their "helping" had consisted of beeping a lullaby and letting the baby tug at their antenna, but try as they might the poor droid just wasn't programmed for childcare. Neither was Poe, honestly.

The door slid open with a hiss and Poe blinked his eyes open, expecting galactic child services to be standing in his door. Thankfully that wasn't the case, and instead Finn was leaning against the frame, still in his fatigues and staring wide-eyed at the baby in Poe's arms.

"I haven't been gone that long, have I?" he asked, working back the mission in his head and coming up a few months short. 

"Nah. Someone found her during a raid and they needed a babysitter. I dunno why I volunteered for the job." Poe admitted, trying to stay focused on Finn. Finn couldn't help but notice that Poe looked kind of, well, awful. His hair was sticking up haphazardly and the circles under his eyes seemed to have gotten darker. Finn figured he must have had the baby for at least a week, but really it had only been a matter of hours.

"I dunno, either. Hand her over." Finn dropped his pack on his barrack box and held out his arms, smiling when Poe surrendered the baby without question. She squirmed a little and Finn pat her gently on the back, Poe's quizzical expression making him laugh."You gotta hold her butt, see? Support her neck, too." The baby settled down as Finn rocked her, her wails softening to sobs and easing into little hiccups. 

"How're you doing that?" 

"I'll tell you later, when you can actually muster up the energy to understand me. Don't take this the wrong way sweetheart, but you look awful. And I'm comparing you to that time on the Finalizer." Humming to himself, Finn bounced the baby in his arms, easing the gas out of her system. He hadn't handled a kid in years, but it was muscle memory, the rocking and gentle hands. The way he knew how to shoot a blaster in the dark, he knew how to calm a colicky baby. "Go take a shower or something, relax a little bit."

"That doesn't sound half bad, actually..." Poe stumbled over to the fresher and knocked into the doorway before managing to teeter inside. It seemed babies were a bit too advanced a job for him. Finn shook his head again and smiled down at the baby, who let out a little burp and nestled happily against his chest.

"You're a handful, aren't you?" he cooed. She whimpered and Finn hushed her, starting up a lullaby, one with a thumping, repetitive rhythm that never failed to put kids to sleep. Force knew that Finn had had a lot of experience doing that.

"One little trooper, dressed in white, all geared up and ready for a fight." he began. The words were rusty, but familiar. They came easier with each stanza and he started to pace the room with the beat, feeling the baby relax with every step. "Two little troopers, standing on parade, they both fall out and lie in the shade. Three little troopers, sheets pulled tight, get in their bunks and say good night... "

  

\--------

 

"...Twenty-five troopers, marching single file, the first one trips and they tumble in a pile. Twenty-six troopers, coming to a halt - Oh, look at that."

Finn smiled and watched the baby's eyelashes flutter, her gentle brown eyes easing shut. Pleased, he kissed the soft, vulnerable ridge above her forehead, the sensitive little patch that hadn't quite hardened yet. He'd go about getting a cap for her tomorrow, call up Rey and see if she wouldn't be willing to knit one. She was getting quite good at knitting. Luke had suggested her taking it up as a relaxing hobby after more than a couple of his training dummies had been blown to shreds by her Force lightning. Clearly, if anyone needed relaxation it was Rey. 

"She'll love you, kiddo. Just you wait until her next visit, we'll have to make sure she doesn't try and steal you..." Finn chattered away to the sleeping baby, knowing that white noise would help keep her asleep. He settled her in the little bassinet on the bedside table; a drawer from their bureau that he had wiped down and padded with an ample amount of shirts and pillowcases. It was cosy enough, Finn thought. Cosier than the synthetic little mats the First Order had provided for infants, at any rate.

When she was comfortably nested Finn pressed another kiss to her cheek and curled up on the bed, kicking off his grimy clothes with a satisfied sigh. Overall, today hadn't been half bad. It only got better when Poe climbed in with him, hair slicked down and a towel slung over his neck. "That was a long shower."

"Dozed off. How long's she been asleep?"

"Few minutes, I'd say. Stubborn one. Most conk out after the twelve troopers collect their rations. Had to make it up from there."

"Most? You've done this before?"

"Done what?" 

"That." Poe waved at the bassinet. "Get her to sleep."

"It's easy. Just some rhyme. Came up with it when I was a teenager." Poe blinked in confusion and Finn sighed, "They had some of the senior cadets patrol the junior barracks. Kept us outta trouble, I guess. I took the youngest ones 'cause no one else would." 

Finn still remembered the feeling, his breathing rattling under the helmet he had only just been issued, the eeriness of walking up and down a narrow barrack lined with cots that were smaller versions of his own bunk. As he passed he would hear shifting, the sharp intake of fearful breath. It was strange, knowing that to those kids, he had been the thing that goes bump in the night, a sinister spectre in glowing white, the First Order's brutal authority made real. And he hadn't wanted that. Who would want that?

So in his own small way he had rebelled, resisted. Once the door had slid closed behind the officer he had taken off that blasted helmet. Smiled. Soothed and sang and whispered words he wished had been said to him when he woke up crying at night. Words that came from better worlds, ones he did not know but imagined, imagined for the sake of the teary red eyes that stared up at him like dying stars. He had warmed the darkness, keeping out the harsh white glare of their uniform existence, the constant scrutiny and cold eyes that stung like bleach. Those kids had kept the human part of him alive, he thought.

And maybe, just maybe, he had done the same for some of them.

"You're really good at this." Poe said quietly, sitting up and glancing at the baby, happily sleeping away in her little bed. "Taking care of kids, I mean. Didn't expect that..."

"No one ever does." The baby stirred and blinked, whining like she was hungry. Automatically Finn scooped up her and the bottle, then he paused and smiled at Poe. "Hey, you want to try calming her down?" Poe nodded gingerly and Finn eased the baby into his arms just as she started to whimper. "Hi, kiddo, it's alright. Let's give Mr. Clueless over here a chance to be a dad."

She quieted while Poe fed her, his posture stiff and awkward. Finn guided his arms and eased his grip, murmuring advice and laughing when the baby's little burbles and giggles made Poe jump. After she was fed and burped Poe just sort of sat there with her, not quite sure what to do next.

"The rhyme helps get her to sleep." Finn reminded him. Poe nodded, brow creased up in thought as he considered his options.

"One little trooper..." Finn watched Poe swallow when the baby blinked up at him, unsatisfied. It looked like all of Poe's self-control was going towards not thrusting her back into Finn's arms and running for the hills. "One little trooper, uh..." 

A moment later inspiration struck and Finn saw Poe's gap-toothed smile return a little bit, all confidence and sunlight. "One little trooper, brave and strong, stole a TIE fighter and brought a pilot along." he said finally, voice slow and tentative. A smile spread across Finn's face and Poe's grin widened. "One little trooper took the helmet off his head, left the First Order and became a rebel instead." The baby giggled and Poe sighed in relief. "Did I do it right?"

"Perfect." Finn laughed as he took back the baby. The second she was no longer his responsibility Poe melted into the blankets, would have fallen asleep then and there if Finn hadn't given him a nudge, laughing when Poe made one more valiant effort to drag his eyes open. "One little pilot, a reckless hothead, kisses his rebel and goes to bed."

Obliging as ever, Poe kissed Finn's smile and curled up beside him, mustering up the courage to pat the baby gently on the back before snuggling down into the blankets. Finn glanced between the two of them and smiled, the goldenrod sunrise lighting up both sleepy faces. A few minutes ticked by, then the baby's eyelashes fluttered, delicate as a flower petal clinging to its stem. Finn pressed one more kiss to her forehead and watched her eyes drift shut again.

"One little baby, born into a fight." he said quietly.  "She found a new home and will be alright."

**Author's Note:**

> these two and babies make me weak


End file.
